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Star Trek : Into The Darkness – A Review

J J Abrams delivers the second in his reboot of the iconic Star Trek series after the surprisingly well received 2009 entry. With Star Trek – into the Darkness Abrams enters LOST like territories where bonds are formed, friendships strengthened and not everything is what it seems.

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Alton Yelchin, Simon Pegg all return onboard the USS Enterprise to boldly go where no man has gone before. Chris Pine as Captain James Kirk is in top form as he mans a mission to go searching for the rogue terrorist John Harrison played by the amazing Benedict Cumberbatch . Zachary Quinto as the half-Vulcan half-Human Spock is dead on with his pan faced humorless objective first officer of the USS Enterprise. While his delivery is straight faced he elicits the most laughs. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers each syllable in such devilishly delicious measured baritone that you want to do nothing more than just hear him speak at length. Simon Pegg continues the magic he created in the first movie with his hilarious portrayal as Scotty the first engineer of the Enterprise.

There is a lot of action and for once I cannot find anything to complain about the use of 3D. The Visual effects are top notch and the different sceneries created are believable. The music by Abram’s long-time collaborator Michael Giacchino helps add tension and excitement to the first half and elevates it several notches above average sci-fi adventure fare.

I am not a trekkie so the world created by Abrams is my only reference outside of big bang theory references and few casual articles. As with every Iconic series reboot there are those who will find offense with this movie as well and I read several reviews which had prepared me to believe I was going to be very disappointed. I read one review which crucified Abrams for trying to Nolanify the world of star trek by trying to go dark. I summarily debunk both those reviews as I felt there to be no references to Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy except that this featured a dreaded villain whose only motive was destruction.

Abrams may never pass the acid test that the hard-core trekkies expect to put him through but what he has done is bring a ground breaking series to the future and introduce a new audience to the wonders that the sci-fi genre holds.

The movie isn’t without problems, the first half while fast paced and exciting loses the steam in the second half. The second half of the second half felt like a different “Episode” but in the context of a feature film just feel a little jarring and over long. The actors are perfectly cast and breathe a new life into roles that birthed legends who still continue to enjoy fanatical followings. I personally enjoyed it more than Iron Man 3 so I’d recommend you don’t miss this movie.